The challenge of dining alone

This year has seen a first for me – traveling alone. While I’ve been lucky enough to travel a few times before, this is the first time I have travelled entirely by myself. The following is a post dedicated to my experience dining alone.

Something in particular I noticed was how different it is to eat alone. Only once you are having a meal by yourself do you come to appreciate that eating genuinely is a social experience. It took a few nights for me to get used to the solo-dining dynamic.

Before having tried it myself, I’d typically wondered how someone could simply take themselves out for a meal. Most friends I know who do this bring some type of reading material to occupy their time. Luckily for me, travelling solo gave me the perfect opportunity to try for myself.

Sitting down to a table by myself felt a little strange at first, particularly when the other place setting was taken away. That only served to highlight that fact I was indeed dining alone. However, shortly after ordering, something unexpected happened.

Nothing.

I thought eating alone would be difficult, but was thankfully proven wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I quite enjoyed the experience (although I suspect that could relate to being in a foreign city, where I didn’t know anyone).

An added bonus, I soon realised, was being able to choose when and where I would eat. (That said, group travels obviously have a range of other benefits to make up for this.)

All in all, my experience dining alone was a challenge, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. One thing I can say is, next time I dine alone I’ll be sure to take my friend’s advice and bring a book.